Sickly Chicken

shellarobertson

Hatching
Jul 14, 2015
7
1
9
Hello. I have a 3 year old Rhode Island Red hen who seems ill but I can't figure out what's wrong. She has the following symptoms: Holding her tail down, pale droopy comb, and she expelled clear fluid from her beak when I picked her up.
A few days ago she was not wanting to put weight on one leg and was laying in her dust hole a lot however she has done this in the past and been fine after a few days.
Because of her holding her tail down and general sickly appearance I thought she may be egg bound but upon examination, I did not feel an egg stuck although she did seem to be contracting her vent.
Unfortunately we do not have a vet in the area that will look at chickens so any help is appreciated.
Thanks
 
Hello. I have a 3 year old Rhode Island Red hen who seems ill but I can't figure out what's wrong. She has the following symptoms: Holding her tail down, pale droopy comb, and she expelled clear fluid from her beak when I picked her up.
A few days ago she was not wanting to put weight on one leg and was laying in her dust hole a lot however she has done this in the past and been fine after a few days.
Because of her holding her tail down and general sickly appearance I thought she may be egg bound but upon examination, I did not feel an egg stuck although she did seem to be contracting her vent.
Unfortunately we do not have a vet in the area that will look at chickens so any help is appreciated.
Thanks

There is soooooo many things that can be wrong and usually a lot of test/blood work etc, etc is the only way to possible find out, then at times its still a guess. I personally feel for weight, feel for body heat, swelling a "home" examination. If her weight is good and she shows no signs of a problem---she just acts sick. I give her tylan50, 1ml oral once a day for 3 to 5 days usually perks them up. If the chicken is not eating I do a warm liquid gravy made from adding hot water to a factory chick mix if I have or a factory layer mix. If she is not eating her body temp will be down so I warm by placing a older heating pad(stays on all the time) on low with enough bedding so it is not to hot. I put this heating pad down in a 18gal tote usually with the bedding, place the chicken in it to warm, and feed liquid gravy again several times during the day allowing her to be on the gentle heat all night. If she seems to be perking up I offer warm wet feed. I will crush up a aspirin if I feel she needs it. I do what I feel I need to do---to try because I am not taking a sick older hen to the vet to spend a $100+ on. My Doctoring has brought several in the last couple years back from near dead and they continued living a good life. SURE If I had them dying one behind the other I would rush to get a necropsy done ASAP.

Good Luck!
 
Last edited:
Thank you so much for your quick response! Will pick up the tylan50 tomorrow and give that a try. Weight and body heat seem to be normal so hopefully that is a good sign. Thanks again.
 

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